Coverage of the Frisco RoughRiders from the corner of Hicks & Diamond Drive

Keeping In Touch

The Strausborger family together last season in Myrtle Beach. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Strausborger)

Whenever a player is signed, they can be sent to any number of minor league teams which are almost never close to their hometowns making it hard to stay in touch with their families. For Lauren Strausborger, the Internet bridges the gap between Indiana, where her family lives, and Texas, where her brother Ryan plays.

“He definitely keeps in touch a lot and he has a Facebook and Twitter so we keep in touch that way,” Strausborger said. “We definitely call him a lot and my parents paid for a subscription online to watch all of his games so we watch him every night too.”

She said she went to every game in high school but wasn’t able to go to many of Ryan’s college games which brought them even closer.

“I think once he went off to college we became even closer because we didn’t get to see each other much and now every chance we get, we watch him play,” Strausborger said. “It’s very exciting. We’re definitely a lot closer now than when we were younger.”

Draft day was another special day the family shared together.

“We were always told by some scouts and Ryan was always told by some scouts that they thought he was going to get drafted but we weren’t really sure,” Strausborger said. “When he got drafted we were all sitting in the room watching the TV and watching the computer to see which round he was going to get drafted. When he did it was really, really exciting. We were pretty quiet about it because we didn’t know it was going to be the Texas Rangers. He’d had other teams contact him but he never heard anything about the Rangers. We were surprised but it was very exciting.”

Ryan was drafted in 2010 and spent his first season in short season Spokane. He spent 2011 in High-A Myrtle Beach before coming to Frisco for the 2012 season. Despite the distance, the Strausborger family has been able to make it to several Frisco games to watch Ryan play.

“We went to Missouri about two weeks ago and watched him play at the Cardinals stadium and then my dad and my other brother are going to go down there in about two weeks to watch him play.”

Strausborger said they couldn’t be happier for Ryan.

“It’s fun to watch all of his games,” she said.”We’re definitely proud of him.”

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